1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to bagging systems and methods for bagging materials such as organic materials, silage, compost, grain, sawdust, dirt, sand, and other compactable materials.
2. Background Information
Agricultural feed bagging machines have been employed for several years to pack or bag silage and the like into elongated bags. In recent years, the bagging machines have also been used to pack or bag compost material and other materials into the elongated plastic bags. Two of the earliest bagging machines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,687,061 and 4,046,068, the complete disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. In these bagging machines, material is supplied to the forward or intake end of the bagging machine and is fed to a rotor. The rotor conveys and compresses the material into a tunnel onto which the bag is positioned, thereby filling the bag. The bagging machine moves forward at a controlled rate leaving the packed bag behind. The packing density of the material packed in the bag is determined and controlled by a number of factors including the rate at which the bagging machine moves forward and the rate at which the material is packed into the bag.
FIG. 1 illustrates a rear view of an existing bagging machine 100. In the description that follows, reference will be made to front and rear of the mobile bagging machine 100. The rear of the mobile bagging machine 100 is hereby defined as the end of the mobile bagging machine to which a bag may be fitted and is generally to the right in FIG. 1. In the description, reference may be made to a rearward direction. A rearward direction is one that is generally towards the area past the rear of the mobile bagging machine 100. The front of the mobile bagging machine 100 is hereby defined as the end of the mobile bagging machine 100 opposite the rear end and is generally to the left in FIG. 1. A forward direction is one that is generally toward an area past the front of the mobile bagging machine 100.
The mobile bagging machine 100 is includes a feed bin 102, a packing assembly 104, a tunnel assembly 106, and a chassis 108. In operation, material to be bagged is loaded into the feed bin 102. Throughout this application, the material being bagged will be referred to generally as silage, but silage is representative of any bulk material that could be packed in a bag. The feed bin 102 feeds the silage into the packing assembly 104 which packs the silage into a tunnel 110 of the tunnel assembly 106. A bag (not shown) is fitted about the tunnel assembly 106 and receives the packed silage. The bag may expand rearward as the silage is fed into it. The chassis 108 mounts the feed bin 102, packing assembly 104, and tunnel assembly 106, enabling them to be moved as a single unit. During the packing of silage into the tunnel 110, the chassis 108 moves forward at a desired rate thereby controlling the density of the packed silage. As the chassis 108 moves forward, the back end of the bag remains in place, expanding the bag longitudinally.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a current rotor 124 for use in the packing assembly 104 of FIG. 1. The packing assembly 104 is disposed at a bulkhead 118 of the feed bin 102 and includes the rotor 124 and a comb 128. The rotor 124 has a plurality of tines 126 and the comb 128 has a plurality of teeth 130 spaced apart by at least a width 132 of a tine 126. A torque source, such as a motor, engine, or external rotation provides torque to rotate the rotor 124. As the rotor 124 rotates, the plurality of tines 126 engage silage in the hopper 112 and push or drag the silage through the bulkhead 118 into the tunnel 110. The rotor 124 continues to rotate with the plurality of tines 126 passing from the tunnel 110 into the hopper 112 through the comb 128. Any silage caught in the plurality of tines 126 is removed by the comb 128 as the plurality of tines 126 pass between the teeth 130 of the comb 128.
Packing rotors for bagging machines have been in use for at least thirty-five years. Previous bagging machines have rotated the rotor 124 at a rate of between 17 revolutions per minute (RPM) and 60 RPM. In the past, different tine 126 placement patterns have been used, but most current designs use the double helical rotor 124 shown in FIG. 2. The performance of a bagging machine 100 is measured by the rate at which it packs silage into a bag per unit of time and by the quality of the fill. Ideally, the bagging machine 100 would fill a bag uniformly with no clumping.
As the bagging rate is increased, it becomes more difficult to achieve uniform bagging, causing lumps to form in the silage. Additionally, maximum capacity for a bagging machine 100 is typically found by rotating the rotor 124 at a rate of sixty RPM. Slower rates of rotation result in a decreased rate of fill, while faster rotation does not result in a substantial increase in fill rate, if at all. Additionally, the faster rotation of the rotor 124 may negatively impact the quality of the fill. It would be beneficial to develop a bagging machine 100 that could bag at a high quality level at a high rate of speed.